New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pump

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Renaud de RICHTER

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Sep 26, 2023, 6:41:02 AM9/26/23
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New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pump

September 25, 2023

by Science China Press

New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pump It was discovered that the photosynthesis of S. costatum can induce substantial aragonite precipitation from artificial/natural seawater under significantly lower supersaturation levels required for the precipitation of inorganic CaCO3. Credit: Science China Press

A research team found that the photosynthesis of Skeletonema costatum (S. costatum), a common diatom species, can induce substantial aragonite precipitation from artificial/natural seawater under significantly lower supersaturation levels required for the precipitation of inorganic CaCO3.

Researchers have discovered that during the growth process of S. costatum, there is a significant decrease in total alkalinity (TA) and [Ca2+] in the bulk medium. The precipitated white particles were confirmed to be aragonite crystals through X-ray diffraction. Scanning electron microscope images revealed that the diatom cells were enveloped by spherical crystals with diameters ranging from 40 to 70 μm, forming aggregates of S. costatum and aragonite.

Further investigations found that this extracellular calcification process is primarily driven by the combined effect of elevated extracellular CO32- concentration and the adsorption and aggregation of Ca2+ during photosynthesis. This enables S. costatum to induce substantial aragonite precipitation at significantly lower supersaturation levels than those required for inorganic CaCO3 precipitation.

The team also observed TA deviation from the conservative mixing during S. costatum blooms in the East China Sea. This further supports the possibility of a new diatom-mediated calcification pathway occurring in the ocean.

This breakthrough finding has profound implications for our understanding of oceanic carbon cycling. Diatoms are the most important primary producers and organic carbon transporters in the ocean. The newly discovered diatom-mediated extracellular calcification pathway may establish a novel connection between the particle inorganic carbon pump and the organic carbon pump.

On one hand, the release of CO2 during the extracellular calcification process is considered as "counter carbonate pump." However, in the diatom-mediated extracellular calcification process, due to the maintenance of high pH in the water, the released CO2 may be more readily absorbed by algae, rather than being released into the atmosphere.

On the other hand, the calcification, through the formation of aggregates of diatoms and aragonite, enhances the efficiency of organic carbon sinking and increases the transport capacity of the biological carbon pump.

This study not only changes our understanding of carbon cycling in marine ecosystems but also provides new perspectives for the ocean carbon cycle research.

The findings are published in the journal Science Bulletin. This study was led by associate professor Yiwen Pan (Institute of Ocean College, Zhejiang University).

More information: Yiwen Pan et al, New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pump, Science Bulletin (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2023.08.020

Tom Goreau

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Sep 26, 2023, 8:43:38 AM9/26/23
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The paper is behind a paywall, but the increase in alkalinity that results from photosynthesis has been recognized as a key mechanism of calcification since Goreau, 1956. Photosynthetic organisms either must export the alkalinity to the water or use it for calcification, either controlled as in corals, or uncontrolled as seems in this case.

 

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Bhaskar M V

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Sep 27, 2023, 1:03:13 AM9/27/23
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Renaud

Thanks for posting this. 

Regards

Bhaskar

Tom Goreau

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Sep 27, 2023, 2:30:01 PM9/27/23
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Supersaturation happens in any very dense phytoplankton bloom, except for coccoliths, which neutralize alkalinity by internal skeleton deposition instead of alkalinity export.

 

Coccolith blooms greatly increase albedo of the ocean surface, their limestone skeleton is bright white. Coccolith chalk makes up the White Cliffs of Dover.

 

 


Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2023 at 1:03 AM
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Kevin Wolf

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Sep 29, 2023, 12:26:26 PM9/29/23
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Does anyone know what caused the Skeletonema costatum off the south coast of England?  There must be certain conditions that favor this species of phytoplankton over others.  It seems we could learn alot about blooms by studying ones that occur naturally. A goal of artificial OIF would be to know the conditions where an application would take place an accurately predict the main species that would arise in the resulting bloom, how long the bloom will last and how large it will be.
Kevin Wolf,  kevin...@gmail.com

Chris Vivian

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Sep 29, 2023, 12:59:18 PM9/29/23
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Kevin,

 

The image shows a bloom of Emiliania huxleyii, a coccolithophore not Skeletonema cosatatum, a diatom. OIF seems to generally favour diatoms over other phytoplankton types. For more information about these blooms I suggest you contact Plymouth Marine Laboratory see - https://www.pml.ac.uk/Science/Plankton.

 

Chris.

Tom Goreau

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Sep 29, 2023, 1:06:34 PM9/29/23
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That’s no Skeletonema, that’s Emiliania huxleyii!

 

Clif Alferness

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Sep 29, 2023, 1:58:38 PM9/29/23
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Along these lines, what are the nutrient factors that favor coccolithophores rather than diatoms then?
Clif

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Tom Goreau

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Sep 29, 2023, 2:04:38 PM9/29/23
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You’d have to look at the nutrient media that marine phytoplankton experts have developed in order to culture them.

 

I’m cc’ing Larry Brand at University of Miami, who has cultured all kinds of phytoplankton from collections made on the high seas for half a century, best knows their nutrient ecology, and who may be able to suggest the best summary.

 

Thomas J. F. Goreau, PhD
President, Global Coral Reef Alliance

Chief Scientist, Blue Regeneration SL
President, Biorock Technology Inc.

Technical Advisor, Blue Guardians Programme, SIDS DOCK

37 Pleasant Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

gor...@globalcoral.org
www.globalcoral.org
Skype: tomgoreau
Tel: (1) 617-864-4226 (leave message)

 

Books:

Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase

http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466595392

 

Innovative Methods of Marine Ecosystem Restoration

http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466557734

 

Geotherapy: Regenerating ecosystem services to reverse climate change

 

No one can change the past, everybody can change the future

 

It’s much later than we think, especially if we don’t think

 

Those with their heads in the sand will see the light when global warming and sea level rise wash the beach away

 

“When you run to the rocks, the rocks will be melting, when you run to the sea, the sea will be boiling”, Peter Tosh, Jamaica’s greatest song writer

 

 

 

 

Michael Hayes

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Sep 29, 2023, 3:23:22 PM9/29/23
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..] These observations suggest that N. pachyderma can tolerate, adapt to and calcify within a wide range of environmental conditions. [...]

https://academic.oup.com/plankt/article/doi/10.1093/plankt/fbad034/7240001 

MH] 

1) When sea-ice reduces the light, this species moves lower in the water column, averaging 100m depth. This is a species that needs little light which would reduce the need for grow lights in a large cultivation operation.


2) [...] The model projects a global average loss in non-spinose foraminifera biomass between 8% (RCP6) and 11% (RCP8.5) by 2050 and between 14% and 18% by 2100 as a response to ocean warming and associated changes in primary production and ecological dynamics [...]


3) There are few industrial uses for such a crop beyond generating firm mCDR MVR values when grown in confinement. 

4) Growing this crop on a vast scale requires a simplistic level of marine photobioreactor engineering, which is likely available. Notably, the marine deserts have the needed aphotic nutrients and cooler water temps needed by this largely polar microbe. Pumping calcifying microbes directly down to the benthic space can likely help keep the accountability of the stored C higher than open water treatments such as OIF while keeping the crop from becoming feed for higher trophs.

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Eelco Rohling

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Sep 29, 2023, 5:58:07 PM9/29/23
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Kevin
Skeletonema has opaline frustules, so I struggle to see its impact on calcification as in the title of your email.
Calcification among phytoplankton is done by coccolithophorids.
Cheers
Eelco

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On 30 Sep 2023, at 02:26, Kevin Wolf <kw...@windharvest.com> wrote:



Eelco Rohling

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Sep 29, 2023, 6:03:14 PM9/29/23
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Neogloboquadrina pachyderma is zooplankton (foraminifer). It’s a grazer.
Cheers
Eelco

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On 30 Sep 2023, at 05:23, Michael Hayes <electro...@gmail.com> wrote:



Michael Hayes

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Sep 29, 2023, 9:50:40 PM9/29/23
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Eelco, et al.,

Exactly, foraminifer can be fed, and thus cultivated. They help address the CaCO₃ cycle, not necessarily the primary photosynthetic cultivation that would support the grazers.

In plain terms, foraminifers can exist on a thin crop of plants. As such, the cost of photobioreactor operations at the primary production/CO2 reduction level is thus reduced. Allowance for more atmospheric pCO2 becoming aquatic is created at the water/air interface when the CaCO₃ is created. That can be used in photobioreactors.

Moreover, foraminifers are one of the first to bioaccumulate CH3Hg generated by the bacteria which is supported by the plants. Sequestration of CH3Hg along with CaCO₃ in the benthic ooze, keeping it out of the general food web, would likely be a rather deep environmental service on many levels.

Best regards

Bhaskar M V

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Sep 29, 2023, 10:31:12 PM9/29/23
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Michael

A good paper on Foraminifera and Diatoms.

Benthic Foraminifera and Diatoms as Ecological Indicators

Part of the Developments in Applied Phycology book series (DAPH,volume 10)

Abstract

Ecology can be defined as the study of causes that govern the distribution and abundance of organisms and their relation to the environment. Among benthic microorganisms (10 μm–500 mm), diatoms and foraminifera are of great importance in aquatic ecosystems worldwide because (1) their species react in a rapid and sensitive way to environmental changes in water bodies, and (2) they preserve in sediments for a long time due to their shells, which are made of silica (diatoms) or calcium carbonate or cemented detrital material (foraminifera). In shallow coastal ecosystems (coastal lagoons, marshes), these attributes make foraminifera and diatoms extremely valuable for both ecology and geology because modern communities indicate the dynamic transition between terrestrial and marine habitats, and fossil assemblages record past sea-level changes. While many other works provide specific information on the taxonomy, biology, and ecology of foraminifera and diatoms independently, this chapter aims to provide a comprehensive joint perspective of the applications and uses of these two groups of organisms for environmental studies in coastal habitats. Given the ongoing and future threats associated with sea-level rise and water scarcity, and the lack of long-term monitoring data to assess ecosystems’ deviation from natural baseline conditions, palaeoecological applications of foraminifera and diatoms are also discussed in the context of environmental and restoration policies.



https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-39212-3_15 

Regards

Bhaskar
Director
Kadambari Consultants Pvt Ltd
Hyderabad. India
Ph. & WhatsApp : +91 92465 08213


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Tom Goreau

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Sep 30, 2023, 6:27:23 AM9/30/23
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Benthic diatoms make up a large part of the fine brown fuzz you see on rocks and algae all over the bottom. Benthic diatom production in shallow waters is usually not included when people estimate free living phytoplankton production, so is very much underestimated. They are not much studied because you need a microscope so most marine biologists don’t even notice them.

 

Chris Vivian

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Sep 30, 2023, 7:07:47 AM9/30/23
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Kevin,

 

This paper may of interest if you can get it – it’s behind a paywall:

 

A biogeochemical study of the coccolithophore, Emiliania huxleyi, in the North Atlantic - https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/93GB01731

 

Note that the abstract says “Coccolith production (1 × 106 tonnes calcite-C) had a significant impact on the state of the CO2 system, causing relative increases of up to 50 μatm in surface pCO2 in association with alkalinity and water temperature changes”.

 

Chris.

 


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Kevin Wolf

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Sep 30, 2023, 2:14:24 PM9/30/23
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First, I am sorry for assuming the main species in the bloom off the south coast of England was Skeletonema costatum and not Emiliania huxleyii.  It was a logical mistake given the original paper was covering Skeletonema costatum. I appreciate the prompt corrections.


It appears the science community needs to know more about what causes different phylum, classes and families of phytoplankton species to grow where they do and how these different populations combine to affect both the health of local fisheries and the sequestration of carbon. 


A key question is “Can we add trace metals and micro-nutrients in different ocean deserts (HNLC)  to cause certain species to dominate and not others so that we can maximize the benefit of resulting phytoplankton blooms for healthy food chains and carbon sequestration while reducing or mitigating possible negative impacts?”


I help represent the Ocean Iron Fertilization Alliance on a steering committee organized by ConservAmerica. We are advancing federal legislation sponsored by Representative Buddy Carter (GA-R) that will be introduced as soon as we find a Democratic congress member to be the co-sponsor.  The legislation would fund the DOE $33 million per year for five years of OIF research grants.  You can find the latest version of the legislation here. This language has been reviewed and found acceptable by NOAA, the DOE and staff of the Congressional Science Committee. 


Based on what I’ve been learning from this list and others is that the legislation should be modified to fund organizations interested in receiving grants so that they have the money to properly propose a large scale OIF experiment.  


Does anyone have thoughts on what it would cost to study an ocean eddy or area enough so that researchers would have a good chance of predicting what species mix would dominate after an application and how long the resulting bloom might last?


My hypothesis is that natural or OIF induced phytoplankton blooms store the most carbon for 50+ years if the bloom results in a mix of diatoms, nitrogen fixing phytoplankton and bacteria, coccolithophores such as Emiliania huxleyii and results in a large amount of zooplankton and animal growth.  (CO2 removed for 50+ years gives the world time to reduce fossil fuel emissions and figure out ways to remove and store carbon.)


Core to this hypothesis is that carbon respired by ocean animals and any fecal matter, deadfall, remineralization and bacterial respiration that the animal life produces that reaches deeper than 100m or so should, on average stay there for over 50 years. Michael McElroy, Butler professor of environmental science estimated that “once dissolved in the ocean, a carbon atom will stay there, on average, more than 500 years.”  A lot of carbon is initially stored and then released from the food chain that a phytoplankton bloom feeds.  


I have not been successful in getting the list moderators to sign me  up with my personal email kevin...@gmail.com so I can unsubscribe from my work email. If someone would invite me via my personal email, I can then unsubscribe from this one.  If you’d like to communicate with me privately or help with the legislation, please let me know via my personal email.  Thank you.


Kevin Wolf, Co-chair

Ocean Iron Fertilization Alliance

www.oifalliance.org

kevin...@gmail.com

Andrew Lockley

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Sep 30, 2023, 2:33:03 PM9/30/23
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Around a decade ago, I ran a model with Nadine Mengis to examine global albedo effects of plankton, but the model wasn't sufficiently sophisticated to examine the ways we could tweak the ratios of different species. Would the albedo effects from the whiter calcified species be worthwhile, versus their large carbon impact?

Andrew 

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Michael Hayes

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Sep 30, 2023, 5:32:42 PM9/30/23
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Kevin, et al.,

There are long standing surface gyres just N of Barrows Alaska:


The sea ice monitoring programs there are run by Univ of Alaska along with others. Triggering open water coccolithophore growth in the gyres might offer interesting albedo data.

If NOAA will support a field trial in those waters, such an effort might not take long.

Best regards 

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Michael Hayes

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Sep 30, 2023, 10:54:41 PM9/30/23
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Arctic Gyre Centric Cultivation and Release of Coccolithophores Timed with Seasonal OIF Deployment:

Low level cargo aircraft delivering Fe dust to the Barrows Gyres can likely be achieved next year, from a strickly techical view.

Cultivation of a sizable volume of Arctic indigenous coccolithophores, the volume relative to the Barrows Gyres, and releasing that aquatic crop while Fe is delivered by air, is within technical reason in likely 1-2 years, if US Arctic EEZ regulators wish and funding is found.

As for growing lots of coccolithophores, most any Arctic-grade marine hull can be put to service for a trial period.

Chris Vivian

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Oct 2, 2023, 11:23:06 AM10/2/23
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Kevin,

 

In temperate waters, the spring bloom goes through a pronounced succession of types of phytoplankton usually starting with diatoms – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_bloom#:~:text=The%20spring%20bloom%20often%20consists,growth%20peaks%20at%20different%20times and https://www.nature.com/articles/nmicrobiol20165. So it more a matter of the removal of certain nutrients together with changes in environmental conditions that allows successive different types of phytoplankton to bloom. Again, note that diatoms are the main beneficiaries of OIF.

 

The so-called ocean deserts have unique ecosystems adapted to low nutrient conditions and are dominated by cyanobacteria. I think that any such fertilisation would likely lead to those ecosystems being massively changed to a state unlike any that existed previously in those areas. Despite having low nutrient levels and therefore being officially classed as ‘oligotrophic’, the Sargasso Sea, per unit area, has a surprisingly high net annual primary production rate that matches levels found in some of the most productive regions in the global ocean – Laffoley et al. (2011) http://www.sargassoseacommission.org/storage/documents/Sargasso.Report.9.12.pdf. So, don’t mess with the ‘ocean deserts’! The productive areas of the oceans have always been the continental shelves, continental slopes and upwelling areas.

Michael Hayes

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Oct 2, 2023, 1:37:48 PM10/2/23
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Chris, et al.,

With confinement of a biotic CDR technique, the oceanic deserts are a good option for any form of biotic CDR as there is so little wildlife to impact. The water, energy, and nutrient nexus found in marine deserts is abundant, yet largely unused due to heat driving the nutricline below the photic zone.

Open water OIF will trigger bacterial/vital changes which opens the question of what total biotic changes are to be expected. The use of cultivation confinement makes such broad and open questions largely moot.  Using confined cultivation-based mCDR methods in oceanic deserts would likely trigger wildlife migrating to such sites just as wildlife is attracted to floating seaweed forests, most any raft.

The biotic mCDR processing throughput numbers of confined cultivation systems is largely an engineering/capital investment issue as the needed tech level is currently available. The policy issues are currently supportive of confined cultivation, no special permits required, confined OIF can start tomorrow. However, the use of classical OIF will need to create policy acceptance. How many years would that policy change take, how many years has it taken so far?

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Kevin Wolf

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Oct 3, 2023, 9:54:10 AM10/3/23
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Chris,

OIF is targeted at high nitrogen, low chlorophyll "ocean deserts". Often the only missing nutrient is iron.  OIF is not proposed for the Sargasso Sea as it has plenty of iron from the Sahara. My understanding is that the prefered areas for OIF are mesoscale eddies in the deep ocean that are seeing less iron than normal (west coast of Alaska).

The estimate is only 1-2% of the ocean needs increased phytoplankton blooms for CO2 levels to be significantly reduced. A well researched plan to conduct OIF experiments in the best HNLC ocean eddies should result in the ability to accurately predict the phytoplankton species that will grow as a result of the artificial addition of missing micro-nutrients.  The goals of such experiments and applications are:

*  long, self perpetuating blooms that sequester a lot of carbon
* improved fisheries especially for people whose fisheries have been harmed by climate change
* small or no secondary impacts .

The more I learn, the more it appears that triggering the right mix of phytoplankton species to start the bloom (e.g. Coccolyths, nitrogen fixing species), will produce the best results.  It also appears that the more heterotrophic life the bloom creates, the more likely the above goals will be met.

It may take a lot of new research to figure out where and how best to achieve these goals.  Experiments won't likely be in areas where there is plenty of iron including most coastal areas and ocean areas where aeolian dust reaches the ocean,

Kevin Wolf


Kevin Wolf

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Oct 3, 2023, 10:04:11 AM10/3/23
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Michael

Won't OIF in mesoscale eddies see the resulting bloom mostly stay in the eddie? The eddies are pretty stable.  The proposals I've seen are for 2000- 5000 square mile experiments in the middle of  HNLC eddies in the deep ocean. Off the west coast of the US, these eddies are as close as 50 miles from shore. 

Are there any papers or articles you can share about how confined OIF would work? How big would it be?  How much CO2 might be sequestered?  I am having a hard time imagining how a confined system would work. 

Thank you in advance for the additional information.

Kevin Wolf







Bhaskar M V

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Oct 3, 2023, 10:16:41 AM10/3/23
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Kevin

Our product Nualgi can be used in all waters to grow Diatoms.
In areas where Sargassum or Cyanobacteria are blooming, the production can be shifted to Diatoms.
This is also very beneficial.
The reason for Sargassum or Cyanobacteria blooms being visible is due to the accumulation.
The reason for accumulation is that they are NOT consumed by zooplankton or fish.
So if Diatoms are grown, the diatoms would be consumed and fish biomass will increase.
Fish is both economically and ecologically beneficial.
Fish sequester carbon in many ways.
If fish consumption increases i.e., if we grow more food in water, meat consumption will decrease, 
so land will be freed up and forests can be grown on that land.

Regards

Bhaskar
Director
Kadambari Consultants Pvt Ltd
Hyderabad. India
Ph. & WhatsApp : +91 92465 08213

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Kevin Wolf

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Oct 3, 2023, 10:35:53 AM10/3/23
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Bhaskar,

I never made the connection before that increasing fisheries through artificially creating diatom blooms would logically result in less meat being eaten.  That is another secondary benefit to focus on heterotrophic sequestration of carbon..

Tell us more about how grow more diatoms would result in less problematic sargassum in the Caribbean and other areas where this seaweed is exploding and harming island communities.

My degree was in  Evolution and Ecology from UC Davis.  I very much like the idea that we can help our oceans overcome the harm we are doing to it because we learn how the complex ecology works and we can help provide it with needed micro-nutrients.

Kevin Wolf

Tom Goreau

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Oct 3, 2023, 10:46:49 AM10/3/23
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The Sargassum problem is not new, in the early 1950s I used to love to jump on the big piles of Sargassum piled up on the windward facing beaches here in Jamaica, we had them every year.

 

What has blown them up massively is land-based nutrients. The Sargassum in the Sargasso Sea is nutrient starved (nitrogen and phosphorus, there is plenty of Sahara dust) and growing at the slowest rates possible.

 

When the Sargassum passes by the African nutrients bleeding from the Congo and Niger Rivers as the result of deforestation, burning, and erosion, their growth rate picks up, and then gets a further boost as the trade winds take them past the outflow of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers, with most of South America’s nutrient loss from land mismanagement. But their growth REALLY takes off when they hit the sewage plumes around every developed coastline in the Caribbean. By the time they hit the beach they are growing just as fast as they possibly can.

 

Bhaskar M V

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Oct 3, 2023, 1:09:11 PM10/3/23
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Kevin

Diatoms can be grown wherever any other micro or macro algae grows.
Algae will grow when nutrients are available.
We just need to understand what Diatoms require and provide these inputs.
The most important input that Diatoms require and that other algae don't is micro-nutrients / trace metals and silica.
Silica is rarely deficient, since silica is stable in water.
Trace metals are the only problem, since metals are not stable in water.
So if say 1,000 tons of Sargassum is now growing in a particular location, we can replace this with a similar quantity of Diatoms or even more, since Diatoms recycle the nutrients many times, so gross CO2 consumption is higher. 

Wild fish catch is ~100 million tons per year, wet weight.
This would be just ~15 million tons C.
If we can't grow ~15 million tons C of fish in the open ocean, not in cages, aquaculture, etc, 
then we can't achieve 1 billion tons C of algae production via OIF.

Regards

Bhaskar
Director
Kadambari Consultants Pvt Ltd
Hyderabad. India
Ph. & WhatsApp : +91 92465 08213

Tom Goreau

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Oct 3, 2023, 1:14:40 PM10/3/23
to Bhaskar M V, Kevin Wolf, Carbon Dioxide Removal

Silica deficiency in open ocean surface waters is what mostly limits diatom productivity.

 

The more you add the more they’ll grow unless also starved of nitrogen and phosphorus.

 

This can be done by adding nano amorphous silica gel, which dissolves vastly faster than any igneous silicate mineral. Amorphous silica is what diatoms make their skeleton from.

 

Kevin Wolf

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Oct 3, 2023, 7:27:35 PM10/3/23
to Tom Goreau, Bhaskar M V, Carbon Dioxide Removal
Tom,

i've read that most HNLC ocean eddies are not short of silica, just iron. Diatoms are the preferred "crop" to raise because of its benefits to fisheries, DMS product and carbon sequestration.  If only 1-2% of the ocean needs additional phytoplankton blooms to rapidly draw down CO2 levels, will silica needed to be added in some of them or do we think there are areas with sufficient silica that this won't be an issue?

The bill we are attempting to pass in Congress focuses on experiments with iron but doesn't preclude adding other trace minerals. What I am thinking about is that applications for the grants should assess the areas that they propose to "fertilize" and include what they will use in their fertilizer mix and what species they expect will dominate the resulting bloom.  To do that takes money. So maybe the grants should provide funds for these initial assessments.

Kevin Wolf,

Tom Goreau

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Oct 3, 2023, 8:20:45 PM10/3/23
to Kevin Wolf, Bhaskar M V, Carbon Dioxide Removal

Geochemists focus on iron because they may not be aware of the importance of balanced nutrient ratios for phytoplankton health and growth.

 

There are several other essential trace elements depleted in surface waters, which are also needed along with iron, nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica in appropriate ratios. Adding iron alone would result in other elements limiting productivity instead. Phycologists learned this through decades of experimentation. More input from them would help.

 

In agriculture heavy use of unbalanced NPK fertilizers causes trace elements to become limiting, and without them crop plants simply can’t take up and use most of the nutrients in the fertilizer, fertilizer uptake efficiency becomes low, and the unused (and costly) excess contaminates groundwater, rivers, lakes, and the ocean. This nutrient imbalance caused dangerous excess nitrate in Dutch groundwaters (causes cancer) and wasted nutrient runoff from the US Corn Belt causing Dead Zones in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Image removed by sender.


Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2023 at 1:03 AM
To: Carbon Dioxide Removal <carbondiox...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: [CDR] Re: New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pump

Renaud

 

Thanks for posting this. 

 

Regards

 

Bhaskar

On Tuesday, 26 September 2023 at 16:11:02 UTC+5:30 renaud.derichter wrote:

phys.org /news/2023-09-pathway-diatom-mediated-calcification-impact-biological.html New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pump

September 25, 2023

by Science China Press

Image removed by sender. New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pumpIt was discovered that the photosynthesis of S. costatum can induce substantial aragonite precipitation from artificial/natural seawater under significantly lower supersaturation levels required for the precipitation of inorganic CaCO3. Credit: Science China Press

Bhaskar M V

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Oct 12, 2023, 9:54:43 PM10/12/23
to Tom Goreau, Kevin Wolf, Carbon Dioxide Removal

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-nutrients-driver-great-atlantic-sargassum.html 

Study clearly identifies nutrients as a driver of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt

by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Study clearly identifies nutrients as a driver of the Great Atlantic Sargassum BeltA large Sargassum mat in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt sampled opportunistically by the R/V Ronald H. Brown as it occupied GO-SHIP line A16 in March 2023. Credit: Ellen Park/©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Under normal conditions, the floating macroalgae Sargassum spp. provide habitat for hundreds of types of organisms. However, the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (GASB) that emerged in 2011 has since then caused unprecedented inundations of this brown seaweed on Caribbean coastlines, with harmful effects on ecosystems while posing challenges to regional economies and tourism, and concerns for respiratory and other human health issues.

Researchers looking into the question of what is the nutrient supply for the GASB say that they have now clearly identified that the nutrient content of Sargassum tissue could help determine the enrichment sources and potentially improve predictions and Sargassum management efforts.

"We show clearly for the first time that Sargassum in the GASB is enhanced in both nitrogen and phosphorus, indicative of a healthy and thriving population," according to the journal article "Nutrient and arsenic biogeochemistry of Sargassum in the western Atlantic," published in Nature Communications.

"Stable nitrogen isotope values point to riverine sources in some circumstances and are more equivocal in others. Distinguishing the various nutrient sources sustaining the GASB will require systematic snapshots of nutrient content and isotopic composition across its entire breadth," according to the paper.

"Presumably, the closer one gets to the source, the higher the nitrogen and / or phosphorus content of Sargassum should be. In that sense, basin-wide patterns in nitrogen and phosphorus elemental composition could provide the fingerprinting necessary to unequivocally determine the sources."

The paper notes that a variety of nutrient sources for the GASB blooms have been suggested, including upwelling, vertical mixing, discharge from the Amazon and Congo rivers, and atmospheric deposition. Though, the paper states that the causes of the GASB and the mechanisms controlling its variability remain unknown.

00:00
00:06
A large Sargassum mat in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt sampled opportunistically by the R/V Ronald H. Brown as it occupied GO-SHIP line A16 in March 2023. Credit: Video: Ellen Park/©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The paper also indicates that the nutritional status of Sargassum in the GASB is enriched, with higher nitrogen and phosphorus content than are populations of Sargassum that reside in its Sargasso Sea habitat.

"In its traditional environment, Sargassum is a great ecological benefit. However, the proliferation of biomass in the tropical Atlantic has proven the old adage that too much of a good thing can be bad," said journal article lead author Dennis McGillicuddy, Jr., senior scientist in the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). 

The finding that nitrogen and phosphorus are higher in the GASB than in the Sargasso Sea "is a smoking gun that the GASB inundations are nutrient-driven," said McGillicuddy. "A consequence of this finding is that it presents us potentially with the opportunity to use those nitrogen and phosphorus markers in Sargassum tissue to fingerprint the ultimate sources of these nutrients that are sustaining these seaweed blooms."

In addition, the paper notes that the presence of arsenic in Sargassum tissue—which reflects phosphorus limitation—significantly constrains the utilization of the seaweed biomass that washes ashore.

"As the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has grown over the last decade, the public has become increasingly aware of this phenomenon and its impact on coastal communities," said co-author Peter Morton, associate research scientist in the Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M University, College Station.

"Our research shows that Sargassum could become enriched in arsenic, depending on the conditions in which it grows. Plans to remove or exploit this material when it washes ashore should consider the potential for Sargassum to contain high concentrations of arsenic, so we encourage affected communities to proceed with caution when exploring options to deal with seasonal inundations of Sargassum."

Study clearly identifies nutrients as a driver of the Great Atlantic Sargassum BeltSargassum coverage based on satellite data. The white circles indicate sampling locations on GO-SHIP line A16. Credit: C. Hu and B. Barnes.

Due to the threats that the Sargassum inundations pose to the environment, economy, and human health, the paper recommends the need for expanded observational and modeling studies to understand the GASB's physical, biological, and chemical drivers. The paper notes that "the societal need for scientific understanding is urgent: improved seasonal to interannual predictions would offer tremendous value for proactive planning and response, while quantification of the underlying causes could inform potential management actions to mitigate the problem."

McGillicuddy first saw Sargassum when he was a child growing up in Florida and his grandfather took him fishing near the seaweed because that was the best place to fish. "It was an oasis in the oceanic desert," McGillicuddy said.

"Now, the system has changed in a fundamental way. We've got an oceanographic process out there that is creating this. As a scientist, and as a fisherman, I feel an urgent need to try to understand this situation, not only to help answer the interesting scientific questions around this problem, but do so in a way that we are able to understand the situation and eventually mitigate it in a way that would be of value to society," he said.

McGillicuddy and co-author Brian Lapointe also stressed the importance of the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of this research, which encompasses a number of disciplines including biology, chemistry, and physics.

"This collaborative study illustrates the value of interdisciplinary research teams to understanding complex oceanographic phenomena in an era of rapid global change, in this case, the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt that formed in 2011," said co-author Brian Lapointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, and one of the world's foremost authorities on Sargassum.

----


Regards

Bhaskar
Director
Kadambari Consultants Pvt Ltd
Hyderabad. India
Ph. & WhatsApp : +91 92465 08213

Tom Goreau

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Oct 13, 2023, 1:59:03 PM10/13/23
to Bhaskar M V, Kevin Wolf, Carbon Dioxide Removal, Brian Lapointe

Brian Lapointe has been showing elevated nutrient sources stimulating Sargassum growth throughout the Atlantic and Caribbean region since the 1980s, most are caused by land-based sources. More and more of this carbon is now piling up and rotting on beaches instead of sinking into the deep sea, so the ocean carbon cycle is affected.

.

From: Bhaskar M V <bhaska...@gmail.com>


Date: Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 9:54 PM
To: Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org>

Kevin Wolf

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Oct 13, 2023, 3:43:30 PM10/13/23
to Tom Goreau, Bhaskar M V, Carbon Dioxide Removal, Brian Lapointe, Kevin Wolf
Tom,

Do you know of any papers that show how increases in phytoplankton growth reduces nutrient levels and whether it is possible to move some of that Sargassum growth into diatoms and fish?   

Do we know if iron is limiting phytoplankton growth anywhere in the Sargassum zone of the Atlantic and Caribbean?

Having the excess nutrients be taken up by diatoms and not Sargassum would be beneficial to the islands, fisheries and more.  And it may result in more carbon sequestered.

Tom Goreau

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Oct 13, 2023, 4:06:33 PM10/13/23
to Renaud de RICHTER, CarbonDioxideRemoval@googlegroups.com <CarbonDioxideRemoval@googlegroups.com>, Ronal W. Larson, Brian Lapointe, Nicholas Kee, Arlen Macfarlane, Al Binger, Bhaskar M V

The Sargasso Sea is not a major source of DMS, which comes mainly from ephemeral polar phytoplankton blooms (Lama et al, 2011, Global Biogeochemical Cycles). It makes only a small difference if Sargassum is in a nutrient enriched upwelling eddy or a nutrient depleted downwelling eddy (see abstract below). This indicates only minor nutrient controls on DMS, at least while in the Sargasso Sea, but this may not the case when they grow much faster after they hit plumes of land-based nutrients from sewage, fertilizers, and soil erosion.

 

DMS is NOT an excretion product, it is a decomposition product of dimethylsulfoniopropionate used by many algae to counterbalance the osmotic pressure of sea salt, so it is produced as needed, and may leak primarily when algae die or are eaten.

 

The problem with people collapsing from hydrogen sulfide fumes from rotting Sargassum is NOT due to algae DMS production! It is produced from seawater sulfate (28 millimolar!) by opportunistic sulfate reducing bacteria decomposing anoxic piles of Sargassum on beaches, and this is the cause of fish and invertebrate kills in back reef environments.

 

I don’t know of anyone who has measured all the sulfur gases on rotting sargassum under both oxic and anoxic conditions, so it’s hard to say how atmospheric DMS could be changed by human manipulation.

 

Brian Lapointe (cc’d) is the person most likely to know.

 

At the moment everybody in the Caribbean is scheming to turn the stinking mess into money! In Belize they are co-burning it with garbage in combustion energy plants, others are making paper from dry seaweed, or extracting chemicals. We think Biochar is a better use.

 

Biochar is normally made by pyrolysis of dry carbon, Sargassum is so wet that piles of it rot before they dry, and the amount of energy to dry them, or labor to dry them in the sun, makes it prohibitive. Low lignin  content and high N/C and P/C ratios mean that a low-carbon nutrient-rich biochar is produced, which makes a great organic fertilizer once the sodium and chloride is rinsed out, but which does not last long in the soil, years instead of hundreds of millions of years like high temperature black carbon from pyrolysis.

 

Biochar can be made by wet pyrolysis under pressure, also called hydrothermal carbonization (HTC). This is ideal to produce seaweed biochar to fertilize the land, even though more will need to be added every few years as it decomposes, So while it is not a long lasting carbon sink like black carbon, it allows the dangerous excess coastal nutrients causing harmful algae blooms and dead zones to instead be put on the land growing carbon sinks, recycling nutrients to the greatest advantage for CO2 in the atmosphere, oceans, soils, and vegetation. Unfortunately there are no commercial HTC units on the market, they have been built only on a lab experimentation scale. A team of Jamaican marine biologists I work with is trying to find funding to recycle ocean carbon and nutrients on the land in Jamaica.

 

Dimethylsulfide production in Sargasso Sea eddies

Author links open overlay panelK.E. Bailey a, D.A. Toole b, B. Blomquist c, R.G. Najjar a, B. Huebert c, D.J. Kieber d, R.P. Kiene e, P. Matrai f, G.R. Westby d, D.A. del Valle e

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2008.02.011Get rights and content

Abstract

Lagrangian time series of dimethylsulfide (DMS) concentrations from a cyclonic and an anticyclonic eddy in the Sargasso Sea were used in conjunction with measured DMS loss rates and a model of vertical mixing to estimate gross DMS production in the upper 60 m during summer 2004. Loss terms included biological consumption, photolysis, and ventilation to the atmosphere. The time- and depth (0–60 m)-averaged gross DMS production was estimated to be 0.73±0.09 nM d−1 in the cyclonic eddy and 0.90±0.15 nM d−1 in the anticyclonic eddy, with respective DMS replacement times of 5±1 and 6±1 d. The higher estimated rate of gross production and lower measured loss rate constants in the anticyclonic eddy were equally responsible for this eddy's 50% higher DMS inventory (0–60 m). When normalized to chlorophyll and total dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), estimated gross production in the anticyclonic eddy was about twice that in the cyclonic eddy, consistent with the greater fraction of phytoplankton that were DMSP producers in the anticyclonic eddy. Higher rates of gross production were estimated below the mixed layer, contributing to the subsurface DMS maximum found in both eddies. In both eddies, gas exchange, microbial consumption, and photolysis were roughly equal DMS loss terms in the surface mixed layer (0.2–0.4 nM d−1). Vertical mixing was a substantial source of DMS to the surface mixed layer in both eddies (0.2–0.3 nM d−1) owing to the relatively high DMS concentrations below the mixed layer. Estimated net biological DMS production rates (gross production minus microbial consumption) in the mixed layer were substantially lower (by almost a factor of 3) than those estimated in a previous study of the Sargasso Sea, which may explain the relatively low mixed-layer DMS concentrations found here during July 2004 (∼3 nM) compared to previous summers (∼4–6 nM).

 

 

Thomas J. F. Goreau, PhD
President, Global Coral Reef Alliance

Chief Scientist, Blue Regeneration SL
President, Biorock Technology Inc.

Technical Advisor, Blue Guardians Programme, SIDS DOCK

37 Pleasant Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

gor...@globalcoral.org
www.globalcoral.org
Skype: tomgoreau
Tel: (1) 617-864-4226 (leave message)

 

Books:

Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase

http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466595392

 

Innovative Methods of Marine Ecosystem Restoration

http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466557734

 

Geotherapy: Regenerating ecosystem services to reverse climate change

 

No one can change the past, everybody can change the future

 

It’s much later than we think, especially if we don’t think

 

Those with their heads in the sand will see the light when global warming and sea level rise wash the beach away

 

“When you run to the rocks, the rocks will be melting, when you run to the sea, the sea will be boiling”, Peter Tosh, Jamaica’s greatest song writer

 

 

 

 

From: Renaud de RICHTER <renaud.d...@gmail.com>


Date: Friday, October 13, 2023 at 2:15 PM
To: Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org>

Cc: Ronal W. Larson <rongre...@comcast.net>
Subject: Question about: Sargassum growth and its carbon piling up and rotting on beaches instead of sinking into the deep sea,

Hi Tom,

 

In case the sargassum releases DMS or other sulfur-compounds that can finish as cooling sulfates. Can't the release be accelerated by collecting the sargassum and bringing it on land. Solar drying it by an active and rapid way, and then adding to the dry residue some ballast to sink it into the deep sea?

Another possibility would be to make biochar from it, but I understand the quality of the biochar produced is not as good as a biochar produced with wood. Therefore it can be used as a fertiliser but will finally also finish as CO2. Is this correct?

 

Another question: during the production of biochar from marine C-biomass, is the sulfur content released in the exhaust gases as SO2?

 

Thanks

Renaud

Tom Goreau

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Oct 13, 2023, 4:17:34 PM10/13/23
to Kevin Wolf, Bhaskar M V, Carbon Dioxide Removal, Brian Lapointe, Kevin Wolf

There is a vast literature on phytoplankton nutrient uptake, what is much harder to determine is how much is internally recycled within the system (see Baumas et al, 2023, Biogeosciences, 20:4165-4182).

 

The Atlantic receives the largest amount of iron containing dust anywhere, from the Sahara. So it is least likely to be iron limited.

Michael Hayes

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Oct 14, 2023, 3:13:28 AM10/14/23
to Tom Goreau, Kevin Wolf, Bhaskar M V, Carbon Dioxide Removal, Brian Lapointe, Kevin Wolf
[...] Freeze-dried biomass resulted in the highest protein solubilization yield and total protein yield among the dehydration methods used in this study. This could be due to the unique conditions used in freeze-drying which can minimize the oxidative and thermal deterioration of seaweeds and preserve most of the original qualities of samples by preventing migration of fluids and solutes during drying. [...]


MH] Preserving the nutrient/chemical abundance of natural seaweed blooms is likely technically possible. Freeze-drying seaweed is spendy relative to most options, yet it may provide the best possibility for extracting valuable nutrients/chemical compounds from the wild biomass blooms.

The more wild seaweed blooms are preserved/processed for human use, the more nutrients/CO2 the wild seaweed blooms will be able to manage. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/CarbonDioxideRemoval/BY3PR13MB4994BEA780ACF8CBD91641DEDDD2A%40BY3PR13MB4994.namprd13.prod.outlook.com.

Tom Goreau

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Oct 14, 2023, 7:59:07 AM10/14/23
to Michael Hayes, Carbon Dioxide Removal, Kevin Wolf, Bhaskar M V, Brian Lapointe, Kevin Wolf

Also bear in mind the use of CO2 critical point extraction, which allows selective extraction of organic chemicals from complex biological materials without ruining them by boiling steam vaporization.

 

This has not yet been used with seaweeds to my knowledge, but is extremely valued in the food industry, as it allows valuable chemicals, flavors, and essential oils to be separated unadulterated by heat.

 

This may be one of the most profitable uses of CO2!

 

Image removed by sender. Study clearly identifies nutrients as a driver of the Great Atlantic Sargassum BeltA large Sargassum mat in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt sampled opportunistically by the R/V Ronald H. Brown as it occupied GO-SHIP line A16 in March 2023. Credit: Ellen Park/©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Under normal conditions, the floating macroalgae Sargassum spp. provide habitat for hundreds of types of organisms. However, the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (GASB) that emerged in 2011 has since then caused unprecedented inundations of this brown seaweed on Caribbean coastlines, with harmful effects on ecosystems while posing challenges to regional economies and tourism, and concerns for respiratory and other human health issues.

Researchers looking into the question of what is the nutrient supply for the GASB say that they have now clearly identified that the nutrient content of Sargassum tissue could help determine the enrichment sources and potentially improve predictions and Sargassum management efforts.

"We show clearly for the first time that Sargassum in the GASB is enhanced in both nitrogen and phosphorus, indicative of a healthy and thriving population," according to the journal article "Nutrient and arsenic biogeochemistry of Sargassum in the western Atlantic," published in Nature Communications.

"Stable nitrogen isotope values point to riverine sources in some circumstances and are more equivocal in others. Distinguishing the various nutrient sources sustaining the GASB will require systematic snapshots of nutrient content and isotopic composition across its entire breadth," according to the paper.

"Presumably, the closer one gets to the source, the higher the nitrogen and / or phosphorus content of Sargassum should be. In that sense, basin-wide patterns in nitrogen and phosphorus elemental composition could provide the fingerprinting necessary to unequivocally determine the sources."

The paper notes that a variety of nutrient sources for the GASB blooms have been suggested, including upwelling, vertical mixing, discharge from the Amazon and Congo rivers, and atmospheric deposition. Though, the paper states that the causes of the GASB and the mechanisms controlling its variability remain unknown.

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A large Sargassum mat in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt sampled opportunistically by the R/V Ronald H. Brown as it occupied GO-SHIP line A16 in March 2023. Credit: Video: Ellen Park/©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The paper also indicates that the nutritional status of Sargassum in the GASB is enriched, with higher nitrogen and phosphorus content than are populations of Sargassum that reside in its Sargasso Sea habitat.

"In its traditional environment, Sargassum is a great ecological benefit. However, the proliferation of biomass in the tropical Atlantic has proven the old adage that too much of a good thing can be bad," said journal article lead author Dennis McGillicuddy, Jr., senior scientist in the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). 

The finding that nitrogen and phosphorus are higher in the GASB than in the Sargasso Sea "is a smoking gun that the GASB inundations are nutrient-driven," said McGillicuddy. "A consequence of this finding is that it presents us potentially with the opportunity to use those nitrogen and phosphorus markers in Sargassum tissue to fingerprint the ultimate sources of these nutrients that are sustaining these seaweed blooms."

In addition, the paper notes that the presence of arsenic in Sargassum tissue—which reflects phosphorus limitation—significantly constrains the utilization of the seaweed biomass that washes ashore.

"As the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has grown over the last decade, the public has become increasingly aware of this phenomenon and its impact on coastal communities," said co-author Peter Morton, associate research scientist in the Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M University, College Station.

"Our research shows that Sargassum could become enriched in arsenic, depending on the conditions in which it grows. Plans to remove or exploit this material when it washes ashore should consider the potential for Sargassum to contain high concentrations of arsenic, so we encourage affected communities to proceed with caution when exploring options to deal with seasonal inundations of Sargassum."

Image removed by sender. Study clearly identifies nutrients as a driver of the Great Atlantic Sargassum BeltSargassum coverage based on satellite data. The white circles indicate sampling locations on GO-SHIP line A16. Credit: C. Hu and B. Barnes.

Image removed by sender.


Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2023 at 1:03 AM
To: Carbon Dioxide Removal <carbondiox...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: [CDR] Re: New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pump

Renaud

 

Thanks for posting this. 

 

Regards

 

Bhaskar

On Tuesday, 26 September 2023 at 16:11:02 UTC+5:30 renaud.derichter wrote:

phys.org /news/2023-09-pathway-diatom-mediated-calcification-impact-biological.html New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pump

September 25, 2023

by Science China Press

Image removed by sender. New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pumpIt was discovered that the photosynthesis of S. costatum can induce substantial aragonite precipitation from artificial/natural seawater under significantly lower supersaturation levels required for the precipitation of inorganic CaCO3. Credit: Science China Press

Tom Goreau

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Oct 14, 2023, 10:40:40 AM10/14/23
to Michael Hayes, CarbonDioxideRemoval@googlegroups.com <CarbonDioxideRemoval@googlegroups.com>, Sev Clarke, Bru Pearce

Yes, piling organic matter on the bottom just creates dead zones.

 

I’ve seen this happen under floating salmon farms in Patagonian fjords.

 

As a child I watched the reefs of Kingston Harbour killed by a dead zone caused by sewage and garbage dumping, the first place where this was documented.

 

It’s another badly mistaken “solution” by those who don’t understand rotting biogeochemistry!

 

From: Michael Hayes <electro...@gmail.com>


Date: Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 10:32 AM
To: Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org>

Cc: Sev Clarke <sevc...@icloud.com>, Bru Pearce <b...@envisionation.org>
Subject: Re: [CDR] Question about: Sargassum growth and its carbon piling up and rotting on beaches instead of sinking into the deep sea,

Biomass dumps on the seabed will likely not be 'turned', or oxygenated, often.

 

On Sat, Oct 14, 2023, 7:28 AM Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org> wrote:

Sure, if you pile it up so that oxygen is consumed faster than it can diffuse in. The trick is to keep it well aerated, then you get no methane, and minimal N2O

From: Michael Hayes <electro...@gmail.com>


Date: Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 10:27 AM
To: Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org>

Cc: Sev Clarke <sevc...@icloud.com>, Bru Pearce <b...@envisionation.org>
Subject: Re: [CDR] Question about: Sargassum growth and its carbon piling up and rotting on beaches instead of sinking into the deep sea,

Enough rotting biomass in any one spot, marine or terrestrial, will generate H2S. The putrifing biomass creates it's own anoxic environment. 

I've watched this happen with wood chip piles. 

Two Laborers Die from Hydrogen Sulfide Exposure in a Confined ... https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/pdfs/11ca008.pdf

On Sat, Oct 14, 2023, 7:10 AM Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org> wrote:

Hydrogen sulfide is formed only if decomposition is anoxic, but does not form during aerobic decomposition of organic carbon, which is about 30 times more efficient energetically. So it all depends on the local oxygen environment.

From: Michael Hayes <electro...@gmail.com>


Date: Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 10:07 AM
To: Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org>

Cc: Sev Clarke <sevc...@icloud.com>, Bru Pearce <b...@envisionation.org>
Subject: Re: [CDR] Question about: Sargassum growth and its carbon piling up and rotting on beaches instead of sinking into the deep sea,

Sev, et al.,

Carbon does not 'rot', yet the usefull nutrients/chemical compounds in seaweed can decompose rather rapidely. Fast processing is needed.

Moreover, sinking raw biomass to the benthic region will rot, or putrify, the biomass, and production of hydrogen sulfide gas will be assured. As such, why should we ignore the full usefull aspects of the biomass while generating one of the most toxic gases that we know of?

Michael

On Sat, Oct 14, 2023, 5:13 AM Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org> wrote:

Thanks, Sev!

Your concept seems to me to best fit with the floating farms that Michael Hayes is proposing, for which Biorock technology is ideally suited.

But I don’t think it will work for seaweed on beaches, which are relatively small and episodic sources that need small mobile units to process locally, since it is not economic to ship seaweed long distances to large central processing units.

From: Sev Clarke <sevc...@icloud.com>


Date: Friday, October 13, 2023 at 6:58 PM
To: Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org>

Cc: Bru Pearce <b...@envisionation.org>
Subject: Re: [CDR] Question about: Sargassum growth and its carbon piling up and rotting on beaches instead of sinking into the deep sea,

Hi Thomas,

You might care to investigate this idea for seaweed carbonization.

A Moltex SMR reactor might provide the heat, see https://www.moltexenergy.com/ . Bru has the contacts for them.

Sev

On 14 Oct 2023, at 7:06 am, Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org> wrote: 

The Sargasso Sea is not a major source of DMS, which comes mainly from ephemeral polar phytoplankton blooms (Lama et al, 2011, Global Biogeochemical Cycles). It makes only a small difference if Sargassum is in a nutrient enriched upwelling eddy or a nutrient depleted downwelling eddy (see abstract below). This indicates only minor nutrient controls on DMS, at least while in the Sargasso Sea, but this may not the case when they grow much faster after they hit plumes of land-based nutrients from sewage, fertilizers, and soil erosion. 

DMS is NOT an excretion product, it is a decomposition product of dimethylsulfoniopropionate used by many algae to counterbalance the osmotic pressure of sea salt, so it is produced as needed, and may leak primarily when algae die or are eaten. 

The problem with people collapsing from hydrogen sulfide fumes from rotting Sargassum is NOT due to algae DMS production! It is produced from seawater sulfate (28 millimolar!) by opportunistic sulfate reducing bacteria decomposing anoxic piles of Sargassum on beaches, and this is the cause of fish and invertebrate kills in back reef environments.

I don’t know of anyone who has measured all the sulfur gases on rotting sargassum under both oxic and anoxic conditions, so it’s hard to say how atmospheric DMS could be changed by human manipulation.

Brian Lapointe (cc’d) is the person most likely to know. 

At the moment everybody in the Caribbean is scheming to turn the stinking mess into money! In Belize they are co-burning it with garbage in combustion energy plants, others are making paper from dry seaweed, or extracting chemicals. We think Biochar is a better use.

Biochar is normally made by pyrolysis of dry carbon, Sargassum is so wet that piles of it rot before they dry, and the amount of energy to dry them, or labor to dry them in the sun, makes it prohibitive. Low lignin  content and high N/C and P/C ratios mean that a low-carbon nutrient-rich biochar is produced, which makes a great organic fertilizer once the sodium and chloride is rinsed out, but which does not last long in the soil, years instead of hundreds of millions of years like high temperature black carbon from pyrolysis.

Biochar can be made by wet pyrolysis under pressure, also called hydrothermal carbonization (HTC). This is ideal to produce seaweed biochar to fertilize the land, even though more will need to be added every few years as it decomposes, So while it is not a long lasting carbon sink like black carbon, it allows the dangerous excess coastal nutrients causing harmful algae blooms and dead zones to instead be put on the land growing carbon sinks, recycling nutrients to the greatest advantage for CO2 in the atmosphere, oceans, soils, and vegetation. Unfortunately there are no commercial HTC units on the market, they have been built only on a lab experimentation scale. A team of Jamaican marine biologists I work with is trying to find funding to recycle ocean carbon and nutrients on the land in Jamaica.

Dimethylsulfide production in Sargasso Sea eddies

Author links open overlay panelK.E. Bailey a, D.A. Toole b, B. Blomquist c, R.G. Najjar a, B. Huebert c, D.J. Kieber d, R.P. Kiene e, P. Matrai f, G.R. Westby d, D.A. del Valle e

Abstract

Lagrangian time series of dimethylsulfide (DMS) concentrations from a cyclonic and an anticyclonic eddy in the Sargasso Sea were used in conjunction with measured DMS loss rates and a model of vertical mixing to estimate gross DMS production in the upper 60 m during summer 2004. Loss terms included biological consumption, photolysis, and ventilation to the atmosphere. The time- and depth (0–60 m)-averaged gross DMS production was estimated to be 0.73±0.09 nM d−1 in the cyclonic eddy and 0.90±0.15 nM d−1 in the anticyclonic eddy, with respective DMS replacement times of 5±1 and 6±1 d. The higher estimated rate of gross production and lower measured loss rate constants in the anticyclonic eddy were equally responsible for this eddy's 50% higher DMS inventory (0–60 m). When normalized to chlorophyll and total dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), estimated gross production in the anticyclonic eddy was about twice that in the cyclonic eddy, consistent with the greater fraction of phytoplankton that were DMSP producers in the anticyclonic eddy. Higher rates of gross production were estimated below the mixed layer, contributing to the subsurface DMS maximum found in both eddies. In both eddies, gas exchange, microbial consumption, and photolysis were roughly equal DMS loss terms in the surface mixed layer (0.2–0.4 nM d−1). Vertical mixing was a substantial source of DMS to the surface mixed layer in both eddies (0.2–0.3 nM d−1) owing to the relatively high DMS concentrations below the mixed layer. Estimated net biological DMS production rates (gross production minus microbial consumption) in the mixed layer were substantially lower (by almost a factor of 3) than those estimated in a previous study of the Sargasso Sea, which may explain the relatively low mixed-layer DMS concentrations found here during July 2004 (∼3 nM) compared to previous summers (∼4–6 nM). 

From: Renaud de RICHTER <renaud.d...@gmail.com>


Date: Friday, October 13, 2023 at 2:15 PM
To: Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org>
Cc: Ronal W. Larson <rongre...@comcast.net>
Subject: Question about: Sargassum growth and its carbon piling up and rotting on beaches instead of sinking into the deep sea,

Hi Tom,

In case the sargassum releases DMS or other sulfur-compounds that can finish as cooling sulfates. Can't the release be accelerated by collecting the sargassum and bringing it on land. Solar drying it by an active and rapid way, and then adding to the dry residue some ballast to sink it into the deep sea?

Another possibility would be to make biochar from it, but I understand the quality of the biochar produced is not as good as a biochar produced with wood. Therefore it can be used as a fertiliser but will finally also finish as CO2. Is this correct?

Another question: during the production of biochar from marine C-biomass, is the sulfur content released in the exhaust gases as SO2?

Thanks

Renaud

Le ven. 13 oct. 2023 à 19:59, Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org> a écrit :

Brian Lapointe has been showing elevated nutrient sources stimulating Sargassum growth throughout the Atlantic and Caribbean region since the 1980s, most are caused by land-based sources. More and more of this carbon is now piling up and rotting on beaches instead of sinking into the deep sea, so the ocean carbon cycle is affected.

From: Bhaskar M V <bhaska...@gmail.com>


Date: Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 9:54 PM
To: Tom Goreau <gor...@globalcoral.org>
Cc: Kevin Wolf <kw...@windharvest.com>, Carbon Dioxide Removal <carbondiox...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [CDR] Re: New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pump

Study clearly identifies nutrients as a driver of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt

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Greg Rau

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Oct 14, 2023, 3:35:32 PM10/14/23
to Michael Hayes, Carbon Dioxide Removal, Tom Goreau, Kevin Wolf, Bhaskar M V, Brian Lapointe, Kevin Wolf
If you can extract and recycle nutrients from marine biomass (or any biomass) and keep the C sequestered (not recycled to CO2 via metabolism, human or otherwise) you might have something. Then there is the CO2 emissions footprint of performing the preceding task.  
How about genetically engineering organisms to make abundant, very stable, nutrient-depleted organic C compounds that: i) won't break down (to CO2), ii) could be useful (bioplastic, building material, C fiber etc.) and iii) can be harvested without killing the organisms? 

Greg 


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Tom Goreau

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Oct 14, 2023, 10:58:59 PM10/14/23
to Greg Rau, Michael Hayes, Carbon Dioxide Removal, Kevin Wolf, Bhaskar M V, Brian Lapointe, Kevin Wolf

There are many groups genetically engineering algae to make only specific products that can be easily extracted, which usually involves centrifuging and separations, in some cases algae have been engineered to produce and release oils that float to the surface.

 

But in general they don’t produce excess organic compounds they don’t need themselves, and do so comes at a cost to normal metabolism.

 

There are almost no organic chemicals that some organism has not evolved enzymes to consume, so a truly inert and indigestible carbon compound may be a pipe dream, the closest is probably lignin, which only a few organisms can digest slowly because it so difficult to break down and low in nutrients.

 

There are numerous plant chemicals that can be harvested without killing the tree, which are tapped to produce resins, perfumes, sweet syrups, rubber, etc.

 

One Brazilian tree has a sap that can be tapped and used unfiltered in diesel cars, literally a renewable fuel tree. Even though the Indians planted it in ancient times all over Brazil to use the oil for lamps and soaps it has never been systematically selected and improved for product yields the way rubber was. I wrote a proposal to do so for the Brazilian environmental agency IBAMA around 35 years ago, but it was shelved for political reasons.

 

Another tree, which we planned to use to regenerate illegally deforested Borneo mangroves produces a flower/fruit sap that can be tapped with no damage to the plant and has twice the energy content of sugar cane, but without needing heavy fertilization, or to burn the land, cut the cane, and intensively process it like sugar cane alcohol. We could never find funding for the project.

 

Error! Filename not specified.A large Sargassum mat in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt sampled opportunistically by the R/V Ronald H. Brown as it occupied GO-SHIP line A16 in March 2023. Credit: Ellen Park/©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Under normal conditions, the floating macroalgae Sargassum spp. provide habitat for hundreds of types of organisms. However, the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (GASB) that emerged in 2011 has since then caused unprecedented inundations of this brown seaweed on Caribbean coastlines, with harmful effects on ecosystems while posing challenges to regional economies and tourism, and concerns for respiratory and other human health issues.

Researchers looking into the question of what is the nutrient supply for the GASB say that they have now clearly identified that the nutrient content of Sargassum tissue could help determine the enrichment sources and potentially improve predictions and Sargassum management efforts.

"We show clearly for the first time that Sargassum in the GASB is enhanced in both nitrogen and phosphorus, indicative of a healthy and thriving population," according to the journal article "Nutrient and arsenic biogeochemistry of Sargassum in the western Atlantic," published in Nature Communications.

"Stable nitrogen isotope values point to riverine sources in some circumstances and are more equivocal in others. Distinguishing the various nutrient sources sustaining the GASB will require systematic snapshots of nutrient content and isotopic composition across its entire breadth," according to the paper.

"Presumably, the closer one gets to the source, the higher the nitrogen and / or phosphorus content of Sargassum should be. In that sense, basin-wide patterns in nitrogen and phosphorus elemental composition could provide the fingerprinting necessary to unequivocally determine the sources."

The paper notes that a variety of nutrient sources for the GASB blooms have been suggested, including upwelling, vertical mixing, discharge from the Amazon and Congo rivers, and atmospheric deposition. Though, the paper states that the causes of the GASB and the mechanisms controlling its variability remain unknown.

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A large Sargassum mat in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt sampled opportunistically by the R/V Ronald H. Brown as it occupied GO-SHIP line A16 in March 2023. Credit: Video: Ellen Park/©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The paper also indicates that the nutritional status of Sargassum in the GASB is enriched, with higher nitrogen and phosphorus content than are populations of Sargassum that reside in its Sargasso Sea habitat.

"In its traditional environment, Sargassum is a great ecological benefit. However, the proliferation of biomass in the tropical Atlantic has proven the old adage that too much of a good thing can be bad," said journal article lead author Dennis McGillicuddy, Jr., senior scientist in the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). 

The finding that nitrogen and phosphorus are higher in the GASB than in the Sargasso Sea "is a smoking gun that the GASB inundations are nutrient-driven," said McGillicuddy. "A consequence of this finding is that it presents us potentially with the opportunity to use those nitrogen and phosphorus markers in Sargassum tissue to fingerprint the ultimate sources of these nutrients that are sustaining these seaweed blooms."

In addition, the paper notes that the presence of arsenic in Sargassum tissue—which reflects phosphorus limitation—significantly constrains the utilization of the seaweed biomass that washes ashore.

"As the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has grown over the last decade, the public has become increasingly aware of this phenomenon and its impact on coastal communities," said co-author Peter Morton, associate research scientist in the Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M University, College Station.

"Our research shows that Sargassum could become enriched in arsenic, depending on the conditions in which it grows. Plans to remove or exploit this material when it washes ashore should consider the potential for Sargassum to contain high concentrations of arsenic, so we encourage affected communities to proceed with caution when exploring options to deal with seasonal inundations of Sargassum."

Error! Filename not specified.Sargassum coverage based on satellite data. The white circles indicate sampling locations on GO-SHIP line A16. Credit: C. Hu and B. Barnes.

Error! Filename not specified.


Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2023 at 1:03 AM
To: Carbon Dioxide Removal <carbondiox...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: [CDR] Re: New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pump

Renaud

 

Thanks for posting this. 

 

Regards

 

Bhaskar

On Tuesday, 26 September 2023 at 16:11:02 UTC+5:30 renaud.derichter wrote:

phys.org /news/2023-09-pathway-diatom-mediated-calcification-impact-biological.html New pathway of diatom-mediated calcification and its impact on the biological pump

September 25, 2023

by Science China Press

Error! Filename not specified.It was discovered that the photosynthesis of S. costatum can induce substantial aragonite precipitation from artificial/natural seawater under significantly lower supersaturation levels required for the precipitation of inorganic CaCO3. Credit: Science China Press

Michael Hayes

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Oct 15, 2023, 7:25:50 AM10/15/23
to Tom Goreau, Greg Rau, Carbon Dioxide Removal, Kevin Wolf, Bhaskar M V, Brian Lapointe, Kevin Wolf
Floating seaweed aquariums can be rather cheap. Designing them to allow for just the fast growing tops of a seaweed to be harvested can up efficiencies. The holdfast lives many years, killing it during seasonal harvesting is a waste. In confinement, the grow 'season' can likely be changed.

With confinement, even the giant bamboo can be grown and just their fast growing tops harvested. The needed agricultural tech is likely available for many land and/or marine crops. 

Terrariums or aquariums stationed in an oceanic desert would have most of the resources to expand indefinitely.

James Bowery

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Oct 15, 2023, 5:38:42 PM10/15/23
to Carbon Dioxide Removal
Engineered wood techniques can confer marine resilience to bamboo. I did look into moso as a macroengineering solution to some structures needed in converting US elex generation CO2 to algae biomass, although eventually it turned out I didn't need it for the best approach based on Algasol's PBRs.  

Moreover a moso bamboo WRKY gene called PeWRKY83 might confer salinity tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis plants.

Breakthroughs in solar desalination are going to be necessary even with such gene insertions.  Perhaps this:

https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(23)00360-4

May be a graphic of text that says 'Sunlight Heat localization 1 + Gravity feeding Salt rejection Dissolved salts Vapor Condensed water →Fluid flow Free water surface'

In any event, in situ "soil" to nourish and support growth for bamboo is going to be difficult, although bamboo has been used in aquaponics  for growing other species of plants:

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